Lesson Plan
Other

Media Literacy Clearinghouse: Critically Viewing Photographs: Civil War

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Was it possible to manipulate photographs during the Civil War? Teach your young scholars about critical viewing through this innovative lesson and engage them in discussion, analysis and research to explain their findings.
Unit Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: Collaborative Booktalk: Sharing and Writing Development

For Teachers 6th - 9th Standards
Are dark themes in young adult novels harmful or helpful to teens? Students will explore this question and will create an argumentative writing piece based on textual evidence. Videos of the lesson in action, examples of student work,...
Unit Plan
iCivics

I Civics: News Literacy

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
Use this library of mini-lessons to teach students to recognize high-standards journalism so they can make informed judgments about the information coming at them and to help them identify and deal with misinformation, bias, opinion, and...
Website
Other

Fu Jen University: Different Kinds of Outlines

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This site from the Fu Jen University contains information on different types of outlines and gives examples of each. It also gives other information on writing outlines.
Unit Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: News and Media Literacy

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This collection, which includes videos, blog articles, student handouts, lesson plans, and tip sheets for families, helps students identify, analyze, and investigate the news and information they get from online sources. Media literacy...
Unit Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: News and Media Literacy Collection

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This collection, which includes videos, blog articles, student handouts, lesson plans, and tip sheets for families, helps students identify, analyze, and investigate the news and information they get from online sources. Media literacy...
Unit Plan
Texas Education Agency

Texas Gateway: Write Expository Text That Synthesizes Ideas

For Students 7th - 9th Standards
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] A learning module that teaches students how to bring ideas together in an expository text in four lessons: Introduction, Analyzing Our Sources, Pulling Out the Major Points...
Activity
BBC

Bbc Bitesize Revision: Discursive (Analytical) Writing

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Short tutorial about discursive, or analytical, writing from a Scottish Standard Grade examination preparation site. Contains seven pages of information about the following: organising, essay examples, finding information, planning,...
Professional Doc
AdLit

Ad lit.org: Analytical Writing in the Content Areas

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
Because writing is thinking, the organization of students' writing reflects both the structure of their thinking and the depth of their understanding. Students should be writing in all their classes, explaining what they know and how...
Professional Doc
AdLit

Ad lit.org: Teaching Content Knowledge and Reading Strategies in Tandem

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
Many areas of instruction can have a rippling effect for the expansion of readers' repertoire of skills, including pre-reading, predicting, testing hypotheses against the text, asking questions, summarizing, etc. Literacy-rich,...
Professional Doc
AdLit

Ad lit.org: An Introduction to Analytical Text Structures

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
Many students are used to writing narratives - stories, description, even poetry, but have little experience with analytical writing. This article is an introduction to six analytical text structures, useful across content areas. See...
Lesson Plan
Writing Fix

Writing Fix: Scientific Important Book Passages

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
Students read and examine the structure of The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown and then follow that pattern while writing about the most important things about various scientific topics. Printable handouts and student samples are...
Activity
Cambridge Rindge & Latin School

Cambridge Rindge & Latin School: Focusing a Research Topic

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This clear and easy to understand explanation of how to focus your topic for effective research will be helpful to many. There are plenty of examples, and two alternate methods are offered as well.
Activity
Cambridge Rindge & Latin School

Cambridge Rindge & Latin School: Research Topic Ideas

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
A comprehensive and in-depth list of possible topics and ideas for research papers from the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School.
Handout
Curated OER

Mc Graw Hill: Part 2 Reading: Determine Main Ideas and Supporting Details

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
See how to pick out the main ideas and supporting details on this site. Click on Model at the bottom right.
Unit Plan
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University

De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Classify and Summarize Information [Pdf]

For Students 2nd - 8th Standards
This learning module contains a link to graphic organizers that will help students categorize content and comprehend short and extended texts. The graphic organizers are designed to be applied to reading nonfiction passages in science...
Graphic
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University

Depaul University: Center for Urban Education: I Can Compare and Contrast [Pdf]

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
This resource is a poster that includes cues that will help students compare and contrast information. These questions can be applied to fiction and nonfiction passages.
Lesson Plan
Other

Increased Comprehension With the Use of Imagery

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
Designed for adult learners, this literacy lesson could easily be used in the high school or middle school classroom. Some handouts are included, but some material must be found in a newspaper or magazine.
Handout
Other

Kid Bibs: Effective Use of Textbook Features

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Here, parents and teachers can find tips for helping young readers understand the expository writing found in textbooks.
Graphic
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: Essay Map

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
A fillable essay map in PDF format with boxes for an introduction, main ideas, supporting details, and a conclusion. Directions on how to use this type of graphic organizer as well as lists of teaching ideas and related resources are...
Graphic
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: K W L S Chart

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
A printable K-W-L-S sheet to help students activate prior knowledge, ask questions, record new learning, and then ask additional questions to extend inquiry beyond the text . Directions on how to use this type of graphic organize as well...
Graphic
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: Persuasion Rubric

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
A printable four-point rubric to use when assessing a persuasive piece with a focus on organization, a goal or thesis, reasons/support, audience, word choice, visuals/delivery, and grammar/usage/mechanics. Directions on how to use this...
Graphic
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: Power Notes

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
A printable note-taking format where students create an outline by assigning powers to the main idea and supporting details. Directions on how to use this type of rubric as well as lists of teaching ideas and related resources are also...
Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: Get the Gist: A Summarizing Strategy for Any Content Area

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
A five-part standards-based lesson in which students learn to write a 20 word summary of an informational text by focusing on answering the questions who, what, when, where, why, and how. This strategy can be applied to any content area,...